Communicate Effectively With Your Audience

By Dr. Mary C. McDonald

The digital world has altered the way businesses communicate with audiences. Regardless of size, they have the opportunity to connect with customers on a more personal basis than at any other point in history.

Businesses can compete on a more level playing field when vying for the attention and loyalty of the same customers. What corporate giants have demonstrated successfully over the last few years is that the companies who win the attention of audiences across the digital landscape are the ones that thrive on social media and creativity. This new paradigm has given all businesses the same leverage, if they know how to navigate this new landscape. So how do you map this new territory?

I posed that question to Chris O’Connor, and Josh Colfer of Prodigi Arts, a creative production studio that uses multimedia techniques to articulate their clients’ message. This Memphis-based company, founded by O’Connor in 2007, uses unbridled imagination as their guide. They were recent guests on my radio show, Seize the Day (KWAM 990 AM), and, in an effort to simplify navigating the digital sea of competing ideas and messages, I asked them what the five most important facts are that businesses should consider when employing creative marketing techniques in a digital world. How do they help clients accomplish marketing objectives, and connect with the imagination of their audiences? Their advice is too good not to share.

1) Know your audience. What are the key demographics? This will make it easier for you to craft your message, and have an idea about what your ideal customer is most likely to gravitate towards.

2) Know where your audience spends most of their time. Not all communication mediums are created equal; some target audiences will be avid readers of the newspaper, while others may spend most of their time on Twitter or Instagram. Based on this knowledge, you will have a better idea of where to focus your marketing efforts.

3) Know Yourself. Businesses must have a strong sense of who they are, what they do, and why they do it.

4) Plan. Companies should have a clear idea of where they will be broadcasting their messages and how they plan to do it.

5) Keep your eyes open. Stay in touch with how the best companies are communicating themselves as technology, style, culture and politics shift from year to year.

“While you may not have an unlimited marketing budget to launch an impeccably crafted campaign,” said O’Connor, “you can still be effective simply by staying relevant in your communication with the language and subject matter.”

“It is important to invigorate the imagination,” added Colfer. “To dream again is the common ground that connects.”

Creatively staying current in a rapidly changing landscape of communication and multiple social media platforms is a key to successful engagement.